Arm Acne

I have severe acne on my upper arms. What is the best way to treat it?

Upper arm acne is just as common as acne on the face. Many people have upper arm acne but often do not notice it. The only difference between arm and facial acne, is that the former is usually concealed with garments. Arm acne is common in young people and tends to be slightly more common in men than women.

The treatment of arm acne is the same as for facial acne. There are non prescription and prescription medications that can be used to treat arm acne. The best advice is to first try an over the counter product. If that fails you can see a doctor for a prescription medication.  Unfortunately over the counter products like salicylic acid, clindamycin or benzyl peroxide suck.

In addition, you need to know that arm acne is often made worse by excess sweating, tight clothing and wearing damp sweaty clothes (eg after exercise) 

The first object should be to maintain good skin hygiene. Shower regularly, wear loose cotton garments and change clothes if they are damp after exercise. When showering do not scrub the acne lesions- Scrubbing is not a treatment of acne and can cause scarring. If you have long hair that falls on your arms, trim your hair.

There are 100s of herbs, lotions, potions, solutions, creams, ointments, enemas, solutions, etc etc for acne- the only thing they have in common is none of them work-so avoid wasting your money on BS products. If you have acne, go and see a decent skin doctor. Avoid GPs because they know very little about the skin and will probably prescribe an antibiotic without even examining you.

The good thing about arm acne is that unlike the face, it can be concealed by clothing.